Configuring Chromium-based HTML-to-Document converter

The version of Google Chrome releasing on 8 January 2025 removes headless functionality. If you’re using Nutrient Document Converter (formerly Muhimbi PDF Converter) or Nutrient Document Converter Services (formerly Muhimbi PDF Converter Services) on-premises applications, configured to use Chrome, this may have an impact on your HTML-to-PDF conversions. To resolve this, switch to Blink Binaries or Chrome headless shell.

As of version 10.3.1 of Nutrient Document Converter for SharePoint and Nutrient Document Converter Services, it’s possible to use a custom Portable Chromium build or the official Chrome application (installed system wide) for converting HTML files and URLs to PDF.

Chrome (and Portable Chromium) version 109 is the last version that still supports Windows Server 2012 R2 or earlier operating systems. In version 10.3.1 of the Nutrient Document Converter with default configuration, Chromium v109 is used for Windows Server 2012 R2 or earlier, and Chromium v114 is used for more modern operating systems.

In future versions, the built-in Portable Chromium binaries will be removed. You’ll be forced to use the installed Chrome application or download and configure Portable Chromium yourself. However, Nutrient will host an up-to-date version of Portable Chromium on its website.

Feel free to try these settings ahead of the removal.

To use the custom Portable Chromium build, set the following entries in the configuration file of the Conversion Service:

Option 1 — Use custom portable Chromium

<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.UseInstalledChromiumBrowser" value=""/>
<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.ChromiumPath" value="path to the folder containing portable chromium"/>

Option 2 — Use the installed Chrome application

<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.UseInstalledChromiumBrowser" value="Chrome"/>
<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.ChromiumPath" value=""/>

Default — Use the built-in Chromium engine

By default, everything is empty, which means the built-in version of Chromium is used.

<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.UseInstalledChromiumBrowser" value=""/>
<add key="HTMLConverterFullFidelity.ChromiumPath" value=""/>

Only Nutrient-supplied Portable Chromium packages are guaranteed to work with the Conversion Service.